Non Government Organisations

The first international organisation in the NGO category is the International Committee of the Red Cross founded in 1863. It is described as a private humanitarian organisation and has been given a charter to protect victims of armed conflicts. As the crowd contributed account has it, this includes the war wounded, prisoners, refugees, civilians and other non-combatants.

From his home in Geneva Henry Dunant wrote A Memory of Solferino, recounting the sights he'd witnessed of the wounded left in the field at the Battle of Solferino, an engagement in the Franco-Austrian War.

Dunant formed the "Committee of the Five", a investigatory commission of the Geneva Society for Public Welfare, with Dunant, Gustave Moynier, Louis Appia, Theodore Maunoir, Guillaume-Henri Dufour.
It wasn't long before they had changed the name to the "International Committee for Relief of the Wounded"

A conference was held in the October to gauge measures for improving medical services on the battlefield. It was attended by 36 individuals. The kingdoms and nations represenated by official delegates were Baden, Bavaria, France, Britain, Hanover, Hesse, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria, Prussia, Russia, Saxony, Sweden, and Spain.
This led to the drawing up of the first Geneva Convention, for the "Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded in Armies in the Field"